Kicks USA

Kicks USA was an urban footwear and apparel retailer with more than 200 stores across the tri-state area (it was later acquired by Snipes and is now Snipes USA). I was hired as a designer and photographer to improve their lifestyle imagery.

The role grew fast. I led the redesign of their influencer program, rewrote the social media and brand guidelines, art directed web banners and social posts, redesigned the company blog, rebranded the YouTube channel and launched three new series. I also pitched and built an outdoor multicolor photo wall and an in-house lounge and photo studio. After the acquisition, I worked with the new owners to keep the brand consistent across every platform.

The challenge

There was no creative director or art director, so I stepped into the gap: creative direction for social, photography, mood boards and more. It was a lot of hats, and the best training I could have asked for.

The program had no real logo, so I rebuilt what they had into a proper mark, then designed the influencer card, mailer box and event grab bag around it.

The feed was running on generic stock photos. I started shooting our own lifestyle photography of new product and making animated posts and Stories, then put it all into a proposal deck to show what the strategy could be. The feed and website looked dramatically better, and Instagram grew from 70k to 101k followers in a few months.

I proposed an outdoor multicolor wall so we always had a strong backdrop on hand. After a month or two of back and forth it was approved, on one condition: the whole company would come out and paint it together.

The "DNA" section of the brand deck didn't make sense to anyone, and no team could explain it. I turned it into "Kicks Camo," a pattern that actually speaks to the streetwear community. The owner signed off and it went onto new product, first shipped through the influencer program.